Enbridge estimates about 230,000 litres has leaked, but the ERCB's Darin Barter said Tuesday that amount hasn't been confirmed.

"It's a significant size spill," said Barter. "Any amount of crude oil out of a pipeline is significant to us. Obviously we've had a number of pipeline incidents in the past short while and we're monitoring cleanup on them and we have a number of investigations underway."

Barter said the pumping station — a 12-year-old facility which is in the middle of a field — has been isolated. He also said the oil has not spilled into any waterways, nor were there any evacuations or injuries due to the leak.

"There's absolutely no waterways, there's no water, there's no standing water, it's on dry land," he said. "The company is actually on the scene and they're cleaning up the spill now. We''ll remain there for as long as we need to be until our comfort is achieved in cleanup operations."

Enbridge said in a news release that the cause of the leak appears to be a failure of a flange gasket. It said as soon as it detected the leak, it notified civic authorities and other regulatory agencies.

But Steve Upham, reeve of the County of St. Paul, where the pumping station is located, said as of Tuesday night he hadn't received any notification.

Upham said he was aware of the spill only through media reports.

"I don't think anybody in the county, at this point, has been notified," he said.

Asked if he should have been contacted by Enbridge, Upham said: "I would have thought so. Or Alberta Environment, because they would be notified, I think. We've heard nothing from anybody."

Enbridge said immediately after the leak was detected, the pipeline was shut down. It was restarted again Monday afternoon, but the company was ordered by the ERCB to shut it down again Tuesday afternoon.

"Enbridge is in discussion with the ERCB to determine the appropriate time for a restart of the line," the company said.

The leak is the second major spill in Alberta this month. Up to 475,000 litres of oil leaked from a pipeline owned by Plains Midstream Canada into the Red Deer River and flowed into Gleniffer Lake earlier this month.

People with homes on the man-made lake say the company still can't say for sure how long the cleanup will take. The Alberta government says it is monitoring water on the river and the lake twice daily at 21 different sites. It says trace levels of hydrocarbons have been detected beyond the containment booms on the lake, but that the levels are well below the province's drinking water guidelines.

The province is still advising people not to draw water directly from the river or lake, and it's telling people not to swim or fish in the lake, either.

"Once again Albertans are left to deal with the toxic effects of yet another pipeline spill in Alberta," said Greenpeace campaigner Mike Hudema.

"How many spills does it take before Alberta Premier Alison Redford does something to protect our water and all our communities? At minimum, we need an independent assessment of Alberta's pipeline safety to show the deficits in management, oversight, enforcement and infrastructure."

Enbridge is proposing to build a pipeline that would stretch from Alberta to the B.C. coast and transport oilsands oil. The Northern Gateway pipeline is in the midst of public hearings and is encountering a lot of opposition amongst First Nation groups.

Enbridge operates about 24,613 kilometres of crude pipeline, delivering on average more than 2.2 million barrels per day of oil and liquids.

— By Mary Jo Laforest in Edmonton

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Enbridge Inc.'s Athabasca pipeline leaked an estimated 230,000 litres of oil about 24 kilometres southeast of Elk Point, Alberta.
A member of Greenpeace cleans up a mock oil spill outside the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline office in downtown Vancouver, Wednesday, June 13, 2012. The mock spill was set up by Greenpeace to show the risks of spills similar to the recent one outside of Red Deer, Alberta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Although the spill didn't leak into any waterways, Energy Resources Conservation Board's Darin Barter said the spill was considered "significant" in size.
"Any amount of crude oil out of a pipeline is significant to us. Obviously we've had a number of pipeline incidents in the past short while and we're monitoring cleanup on them and we have a number of investigations underway."

An estimated 475,000 litres of oil spilled from a Plains Midstream Canada pipeline and proceeded to leak into the Red Deer River.
Oil from a pipeline leak coats a pond near Sundre, Alta., Friday, June 8, 2012. Plains Midstream Canada says one of their non-functioning pipeline leaked between 1,000-3,000 barrels of oil. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Some of the oil seeped into the Gleniffer reservoir, which some Albertans rely on for drinking water. Plains Midstream Canada trucked in drinking water for those residing near the area.

Pace Oil and Gas's waste disposal line leaked about 22,000 barrels of a mixture of oil and water 20 kilometres southeast of Rainbow Lake. The spill was discovered on May 19 by another oil and gas company.

The oil spill "ranks among the largest in North America in recent years," the Globe and Mail wrote.

A pipeline explosion and oil leak at a Pengrowth Energy facility caused a pipeline to leak 500 barrels of light, sweet crude oil into Judy Creek near Swan Hills, Alberta.

Energy Resources Conservation Board spokesman Darin Barter said the leak was relatively small.
"It's what we would consider a minor spill with 95 per cent of the product coming out of the pipeline being water and five per cent oil," he told CBC. "However, we're taking it very seriously, as is the company."